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Scott Hodge: Here’s What ‘Income Equality’ Would Look Like Take about $4 trillion from the top 40% of families and give it to the bottom 60%—voilà, no more inequality.

Scott Hodge: Here’s What ‘Income Equality’ Would Look Like

Take about $4 trillion from the top 40% of families and give it to the bottom 60%—voilà, no more inequality.

SCOTT A. HODGE

Feb. 13, 2014 6:16 p.m. ET

President Obama has talked a lot recently about reducing income inequality. Yet he neither acknowledges how much money the government is redistributing, nor how much more would be needed to close the income gap. Perhaps that’s because the project would require redistribution on a staggering scale. Read more of this post

German Thriftiness Vexes Banks; A Glut of Deposits Has Lenders Struggling to Invest It All

German Thriftiness Vexes Banks

A Glut of Deposits Has Lenders Struggling to Invest It All

CHRISTOPHER LAWTON and LAURA STEVENS

Feb. 13, 2014 4:16 p.m. ET

FRANKFURT—Hauke Hanke’s frugality is becoming a problem for Germany’s banks. Like many of his compatriots, the 30-year-old scientist from Berlin typically saves as much as 25% of his paycheck every month. Read more of this post

Luxury hotel brands swap keys in India’s economic slump

Luxury hotel brands swap keys in India’s economic slump

Thursday, February 13, 2014 – 12:50

Aditi Shah

Reuters

Mumbai – Less than nine months after opening the first hotel in Mumbai under its brand, Hong Kong luxury chain operator Shangri-La Asia (0069.HK) handed the keys back to the owner. Read more of this post

India’s aviation sector struggling to soar

India’s aviation sector struggling to soar

Friday, Feb 14, 2014

Nirmala Ganapathy

The Straits Times

NEW DELHI – India’s aviation sector is starting to shake off the doldrums with the launch of two new airlines, at least one this year, in a rapidly expanding market. Read more of this post

Wall Street’s grandfathers of commodities to survive Fed revamp better than others

Wall Street’s grandfathers of commodities to survive Fed revamp better than others

Wed, Feb 12 2014

By Anna Louie Sussman

NEW YORK (Reuters) – As the U.S. Federal Reserve considers new ways of reining in banks’ trading in what it sees as risky physical commodity markets, Wall Street‘s two oldest and biggest players may ultimately gain in stature. Read more of this post

China’s Shadow Lenders Turn to Property; Strategic Shift Comes as Default Risk Rises on Older Loans

China’s Shadow Lenders Turn to Property

Strategic Shift Comes as Default Risk Rises on Older Loans

DINNY MCMAHON And ESTHER FUNG

Updated Feb. 13, 2014 6:44 a.m. ET

China’s key shadow-banking institutions have aggressively ramped up funding to the property sector, a marked shift in strategy at a time when lenders face increased risk that older loans they have made won’t be repaid.

According to data issued Thursday by the China Trustee Association, a government-backed industry group, China’s trust companies provided more than 10 times as much new funding to the property sector in the last three months of 2013 as they did a year earlier. The increase came as overall growth in lending by the trust firms came in at 7.7% relative to the previous quarter, well below a quarterly pace that typically exceeds 10%. Read more of this post

China smog makes capital “barely suitable” for life: report

China smog makes capital “barely suitable” for life: report

Thursday, February 13, 2014 – 11:16

Reuters

SHANGHAI – Severe pollution in Beijing has made the Chinese capital “barely suitable” for living, according to an official Chinese report, as the world’s second-largest economy tries to reduce often hazardous levels of smog caused by decades of rapid growth. Read more of this post

EMs are paying the price of ETF liquidity; Volatility inflamed by ability of exchange traded funds to exit quickly; Chances are high of mass exodus from EM; No framework for co-ordinating an orderly reversal of flows

February 12, 2014 10:05 am

EMs are paying the price of ETF liquidity

By John Authers

Volatility inflamed by ability of exchange traded funds to exit quickly

Are exchange traded funds the best way to invest in emerging market equities?

Last week, I wrote a column arguing that the structure of ETFs, which allows trading through the day, had contributed significantly to the scale of the recent sell-off in emerging markets, and was helping to make the sector more volatile. Read more of this post

Accountants PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY face taming moves; Are the Big Four accounting leviathans about to be tamed?

February 12, 2014 6:32 pm

Accountants PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY face taming moves

By Sam Fleming

Are the Big Four accounting leviathans about to be tamed?

Even as their revenues ascend to fresh records, PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY are struggling to navigate new legal and regulatory pitfalls in two of their most important markets – China and the European Union.

On Wednesday the four networks’ Chinese affiliates were preparing to appeal a US decision to bar them from working for any US-listed Chinese companies for six months. The spat between the two countries threatened to check progress for the accountancies in one of their fastest-growing regions, as well as souring broader commercial relations between the nations. Read more of this post

Canada Clamps Down on Investor Visas; Ottawa Ends Its Immigrant Investor Program Popular Among Wealthy Chinese

Canada Clamps Down on Investor Visas

Ottawa Ends Its Immigrant Investor Program Popular Among Wealthy Chinese

JASON CHOW in Hong Kong and ALISTAIR MACDONALD in Toronto

Updated Feb. 12, 2014 8:28 p.m. ET

Canada’s cancellation of an immigration program popular with wealthy Chinese is adding to concerns that a country once welcoming of China’s investment and immigrants is now closing the door on both. Read more of this post

U.S. Firms Fret Over China Debt, Investment Rules

Feb 12, 2014

U.S. Firms Fret Over China Debt, Investment Rules

U.S. companies that do business in China are worried about investment rules that limit their growth there, as well as about the repercussions of rising levels of debt in the world’s second-biggest economy, a U.S. business group said Monday. Read more of this post

Income + wealth inequality = More trouble for society

Income + wealth inequality = More trouble for society

Thursday, February 13, 2014 – 09:00

Robin Chan

Assistant Political Editor

The Straits Times

MUCH attention given to inequality in Singapore in recent years has focused on income inequality. There is a good reason: Singapore’s income gap, as measured by the Gini coefficient for income, is one of the widest among developed countries at 0.478. Read more of this post

Vietnam bets on loosening gaming laws to lure high rollers

Vietnam bets on loosening gaming laws to lure high rollers

6:32pm EST

By Nguyen Phuong Linh and Farah Master

HO CHI MINH CITY/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Nguyen Van Tuon seems unconcerned that his business driving Vietnamese gamblers across the border to Cambodian casinos is under threat. Read more of this post

Is trickle-down economics working for Singapore?

Is trickle-down economics working for Singapore?

The annual Budget is an expression of the Government’s commitment to its policies — put simply, the Budget is when the bucks are put into the bangs.

BY DEVADAS KRISHNADAS –

13 FEBRUARY

The annual Budget is an expression of the Government’s commitment to its policies — put simply, the Budget is when the bucks are put into the bangs. Read more of this post